Maulana Sami-ul-Haq

Maulana Sami-ul-Haq (18 December 1937-2 November 2018) was a Pakistani religious scholar and senator who was a member of JUI(F). Nicknamed the "Father of the Taliban", he was assassinated in 2018.

Biography
Sami-ul-Haq was born in Akora Khattak, British India in 1937, the son of a religious scholar. He studied Islam and Arabic at his father's school before becoming a scholar himself, and he supported Islamism. He served in the Majlis e-Shura from 1983 to 1985, as Chancellor of Darul Uloom Haqqania (his father's school) from 1988 to 2008, and as a Senator from 1985 to 1997 and from 2003 to 2009. He was nicknamed the "Father of the Taliban" due to his close relationship with Mohammed Omar, and for his school's production of many prominent Taliban members. In 2013, he openly promoted the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, telling the US ambassador that they could make the country happy within a year. However, he disagreed from the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan on the issue of polio vaccinations, supporting them. On 2 November 2018, he was stabbed multiple times and killed at his residence in Rawalpindi.